Day 2325. We didn't go anywhere on Sunday or Monday. I was still catching up on office work for Mali, and I wrote a newsletter about the Christmas activities in Mali after having talking to Paul. I also taught an hour on Monday morning and an hour in the afternoon. And we spent much time on piano practice which will be over once our busy lives start up again on Wednesday.
This morning I slept in for one last time and got up at 11:30 am. I then warmed up leftovers, and we sat down to eat. After having eaten, we got ready to leave the house and did so just after 1 pm. We rode the subway downtown, then had to take the tram for one stop. While waiting for the tram, we ran into our friends that we were meeting up with. We hadn't seen them since before school started in September, so it was really great to see them again. The kids immediately reconnected with their son who is one year older than them and had fun with him. We rode the tram together, then noticed that it all looked like a big construction site at Town Hall square. I had looked online where it said that today was the last day of the Christmas market with icerink but that was obviously not true. They were preparing to make the whole place an icerink. We were disappointed and decided to go to the one that our friend had wanted to go to in the first place.
We walked back to where we had gotten off the subway and got on a different tram going another direction. After 15 minutes we got off and walked a little, then took the elevator up to the roof of the building where the icerink was. It's actually the one where I learned ice-skating as a kid. We paid and walked in and put our shoes on, i.e. Tammy, Emmy and I. Then we went on the ice.
I took Sammy on the ice in his wheelchair after having read that other parents with kids in wheelchairs do that. It gave me something to hold on to as I'm out of practice, and Sammy was having lots of fun. Tammy and Emmy were having a harder time, falling down a lot. It was their first time going ice-skating this year, and last year they also went only once. Two years ago they took a class in winter. They were still having fun - more than I had expected. As for me, my shoes were hurting me a lot, and after three rounds I had to quit. Randy then took my place and went onto the ice with his shoes on, pushing Sammy and helping Tammy. Sammy was getting cold and soon had enough. But Tammy and Emmy couldn't get enough and were doing their rounds together with our friend and her son. Tammy was doing very well, skating on her own, while Emmy needed some help from our friend.
One time everyone had to get off the ice so they could clean it again, and our kids used the break to eat some snacks, then got back on. I was watching them for a while but then I also went into the locker room to warm up where Randy and Sammy already were.
After a while the three of us were ready to leave, and we were able to convince the kids to go get something hot to drink even though they wanted to continue ice-skating. We got changed and walked back to the tram stop and rode it for one stop, then walked to the McDonald's right there. As it was really 5 pm and the kids were hungry, we ordered Happy Meals as well as hot chocolate for them. We had a great time eating and talking with our friends. Then it was time to say good-bye. We decided to meet again in a month to go ice-skating again.
We walked to the tram stop and rode the tram downtown, then the subway home. Back home they went straight into the bathtub to warm up, then we went downstairs for piano practice. As it was still early after that, the kids got onto the tablets for a while, then we read Bible stories, I prayed for them, and they went to bed. As for me, I went back to work as I wanted to get my newsletter sent out tonight which I was able to do after a few more hours of work. The downside: now it's after 1:30 am, and I still have to do the dishes, and I have to get up 5 hours from now already.
